Freshmen’s learner autonomy in vocabulary learning at felte ulis vnu

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER FRESHMEN’S LEARNER AUTONOMY IN VOC

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION PAPER

FRESHMEN’S LEARNER AUTONOMY IN VOCABULARY

LEARNING AT FELTE – ULIS - VNU

SUPERVISOR: PHẠM NGỌC KHÁNH LY, M.A STUDENT: ĐỖ THỊ THANH DUNG

YEAR OF ENROLMENT: QH2009.F.1.E7

Ha Noi, May 2013

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

KHOÁ LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

VIỆC TỰ HỌC TỪ VỰNG CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT

HỆ SƯ PHẠM KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

GIÁO VIÊN HƯỚNG DẪN : Th.s.PHẠM NGỌC KHÁNH LY SINH VIÊN: ĐỖ THỊ THANH DUNG

KHOÁ: QH2009.F.1.E7

Hà Nội, Năm 2013

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Acceptance page

I hereby state that I (Do Thi Thanh Dung, Group 09.1.E7), being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the university relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited

in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research,

in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper

Do Thi Thanh Dung

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Acknowledgements

It is my pleasure to thank those who made this thesis possible

First of all, I would like to express my sincere thank the great supervision by Ms Pham Ngoc Khanh Ly who has always provided a helpful direction, assistance and support for my thesis I owe my debt to her for all the help from the very beginning to the present

I also be thankful to all my research subjects – English teaching freshmen

at FELTE – ULIS – VNU for their time and enthusiastic cooperation This thesis would not have been possible without their participation

Last but not least, I owe my greatest gratitude to my beloved family and friends for their emotional support and active encouragement Without them, this paper may not be completed

I would like to offer my regards and blessings to all of those who supported me during the completion of the study

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Abstract

Learner autonomy is considered a determining factor of success in their own study, yet there is a limited number of papers on the issue in the context of Vietnam tertiary education With the aim of contributing more insights to this domain , this paper explores 48 freshmen’s learner autonomy in vocabulary learning at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University To be specific, their perceptions of learner autonomy and their vocabulary learning strategies are closely examined Descriptive statistics and content analysis methods were adopted to analyze the collected data The findings reveal that freshmen highly value the role of vocabulary learning and learner autonomy although learning vocabulary is not an interest to most of them Furthermore, the paper finds out that the most frequently used strategies

to discover word-meaning, consolidate and widen vocabulary items are to keep

a vocabulary notebook, use bilingual dictionaries and listen to music respectively Hence, it is strongly recommended that teachers create more appealing vocabulary teaching activities basing on students’ interest Moreover, they are suggested to give and check freshmen’s assignments as well as share their own vocabulary learning strategies to students

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List of tables, figures and charts abbreviations

Chart 4.1 Freshmen's judgement of the importance of vocabulary learning 22

Chart 4.3 Freshmen's judgement of the importance of learner autonomy in

vocabulary learning

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Table 4.1 Strategies to Discovering the Meaning of New Vocabulary Items

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List of abbreviations

FELTE Faculty of English Language Teacher Education

ULIS University of Languages and International Studies

VNU Vietnam National University

DMV Strategies to Discover the Meaning of New Vocabulary Items

RKV Strategies to Retain the Knowledge of Newly-learned Vocabulary Items

EKV Strategies to Expand the Knowledge of Vocabulary Items

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Contents

Acceptance page i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

List of tables, figures and charts abbreviations iv

List of abbreviations v

List of abbreviations v

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study 1

1.2 Research aims and research questions 2

1.3 Significance of the study 3

1.4 Scope 3

1.5 Organization 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Learner Autonomy 5

2.1.1 Definition 5 2.1.2 Characteristics of autonomous learners 6 2.1.3 Teacher‟s role in enhancing learner autonomy 7 2.2 Vocabulary learning 8

2.2.1 Definition 8 2.2.2 Significance of vocabulary in language learning 8 2.2.3 Vocabulary in relationship with four skills 9 2.2.5 Vocabulary learning approaches 10 2.2.6 Vocabulary learning strategies 11 2.3 Learner autonomy in vocabulary learning 14

2.4 Review of related studies 14

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 17

3.1 Selection of subjects 17

3.2 Participants 17

3.4 Procedures of data collection 20

3.5 Procedures of data analysis 21

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS & DISCUSSIONS 22

4.1 Freshmen‟s perceptions of autonomy in vocabulary learning 22

4.1.1 The importance of learning English vocabulary 22 4.1.2 The level of interest in learning English vocabulary 23 4.1.3.The importance of learner autonomy in vocabulary learning 25 4.1.4 Vocabulary learning habits 26 4.2 Freshmen‟s strategies to learn vocabulary autonomously 28

4.2.1 Strategies to Discovering the Meaning of New Vocabulary Items 28 4.2.2 Strategies to retain the knowledge of newly-learned vocabulary items 30

4.2.3 Strategies to expand the knowledge of vocabulary items 32 4.3 Freshmen‟s obstacles in autonomous vocabulary learning 34

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 36

5.1 Summary 36

5.2 Pedagogical implications 37

5.3 Limitations 40

5.4 Recommendation 41

APPENDIX 1: REFERENCES 42

APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE 47

APPENDIX 3: INTERVIEW 51

APPENDIX 4: TRANSCRIPTION OF INTERVIEW 52

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This first chapter presents the statement of the problem and the rationale for the study together with its general objectives, significance and scope More importantly, the research objectives are pointed out with two research questions which identify the direction for this paper Finally, the research‟s organisation comes at the end of the chapter

1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study

Recently, changes in the role of learners and teachers have been made, in which the former is no longer passive recipients of knowledge but active participants in the learning process (Yaneer, 2003) Teachers, similarly, are facilitators in the process of information receiving rather than knowledge givers as traditionally

English as a foreign language teaching is also strongly influenced by some changes, especially when the communicative approach replaced the audio-lingual and grammar translation methods Students have become the center of the teaching and learning process In details, this transition from traditional teacher-centred to more learner-centred approach is viewed as “an offspring of communicative language learning” by Nunan (1988) He believes that learners who are able to play the kind of active role in their own learning could be said to be autonomous Regarding autonomous learning, Holect (1981) introduced the term

“learner autonomy”, which then drew the attention of many scholars The importance of learner autonomy has been specified in many aspects of language learning including vocabulary It is necessary to emphasize the increasing need of communication in English that makes learning vocabulary a vital component

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In fact, the subject of vocabulary and autonomy has been studied worldwide Intensive discussions have been made about factors of autonomy in general and aspects of vocabulary and vocabulary learning in particular A great number of studies were conducted, for example, Nation (1990), McCarthy (1990) and Schmitt (1997) Nevertheless, in Vietnam, the traditional method of teaching or teacher – centered method is still an obstacle to new methods in general Particularly, learner autonomy can be fostered better when students are centers of the learning process Moreover, several studies in the field have been carried out at ULIS in relation to vocabulary teaching and studying techniques rather than the autonomy Furthermore, those studies mainly aimed at high school students rather than freshmen who do need to improve their vocabulary given their entry level based on grammar examinations

In an attempt to contribute to the existing literature, the researcher has decided to conduct a study on English teaching freshmen’s learner autonomy in vocabulary learning at University of Languages and International Studies

1.2 Research aims and research questions

The researcher aims to examine students’ perceptions of learning vocabulary autonomously and their common strategies to become an autonomous learners

In order to achieve the above objectives, this paper would seek the answers

to the following questions:

1 What are students’ perceptions of autonomy in vocabulary learning?

2 What are students’ common strategies to learn vocabulary autonomously?

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1.3 Significance of the study

Conducting the research “Autonomy in learning vocabulary of freshmen at FELTE_ULIS_VNU”, the researcher hopes to show a big picture of vocabulary learning among first-year teacher students of English, particularly focusing on learner autonomy in this process The paper first is expected to enrich the research block of the faculty on the field of teaching methodology Consequently, students, teachers and researchers who are interested in the field could look for some information in this study Secondly, it could help to raise learners’ awareness of the importance of autonomous learning, especially in learning vocabulary Moreover, students, through this study, could be provided with a large range of vocabulary learning strategies, so they can improve their vocabulary proficiency Last but not least, teachers of English may find findings and discussions useful for their teaching practices Thus, make necessary changes to enhance vocabulary acquisition in their classes

Secondly, the subjects of the study were limited to first-year mainstream students whose major is English teaching at Faculty of English Language Teacher Education ULIS, VNU

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1.5 Organization

In the rest of this study, the following chapters are included:

Chapter 2: Literature Review – provides the background of the study,

including definitions of key concepts and analysis of the literature that sheds light

on this research

Chapter 3: Methodology – sets out the research design, introduces the

participants, instruments as well as methods to collect and analyze the data

Chapter 4: Results and Discussion – presents, analyzes and discusses the

findings from the data regarding the three research questions

Chapter 5: Conclusion – summaries all the issues discussed in the paper,

notes some limitations of the study and suggests pedagogical implications and potential avenues for further studies

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

The previous chapter has provided the rationale for the need to answer the two research questions in the clearly defined scope This second chapter clarifies the theories as a base for the research with a brief summary of the previous related studies shown at the end

1.1 Learner Autonomy

1.1.1 Definition

“No matter what the teacher does or what the course presents, ultimately it is the learner who does the learning” (Nation, 1998) This emphasizes the vital role of learners in their learning More specifically, it is the ability to take responsibility for learning, what is named learner autonomy or autonomous learning

Autonomy is a Greek word which means authority free Oxford Dictionary the eighth version defines autonomy as “independence” and “the ability to act and make decisions without being controlled by anyone else” The concept of autonomy

in education

According to Holec (1981), a learner is considered autonomous when he has the ability to be responsible for his own learning In particular, the capacity includes setting objectives, choosing methods, controlling the learning process and evaluating what has been done This view is shared by Knowles (1975) who defined autonomous learning as a process of individuals with or without help to formulate goals, select learning strategies and assess results Besides these aspects, leaner autonomy also requires critical reflection (Little, 1991) Morever, he states that the capacity will be shown not only in the way students learn but also the way

1.1.2 Characteristics of autonomous learners

Autonomous learners can be characterized diversely by different scholars According to Dickinson (1993), there are four major elements of an autonomous learner: linking background knowledge and new-taught knowledge, formulating learning objectives, implementing appropriate learning strategies and monitoring the effectiveness of their use of strategies and then making necessary changes

Besides, according to Weden (1998), autonomous learners are those who have insights into their learning styles and strategies and are pro-active They are also realistically humble-fully aware of their strengths and weaknesses as well as actively participate in a learning community (Beatriz, 2010)

Moreover, Scharle and Szabo (2000) believes that, in order to be autonomous, the learner should be capable to define his aims; understand his role as

a learner responsible for the process of search and acquisition of his own knowledge; select ways to search for his knowledge developing abilities and skills

to work independently in contexts that are different from the academic one; detect his difficulties and look for solutions, while exercising greater control over his own learning and self-evaluate, not only at the end, but during the learning process

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1.1.3 Teacher’s role in enhancing learner autonomy

No matter what kind of teaching methods, teachers play a vital role in educating students and helping them to self-educate In traditional method of teaching, teachers are suppliers of knowledge who students can ask for information

In contrast, when learners take more responsibility for establising their learning objectives and stratergies on their own, Crabbe (1993) believes that they turn to their teacher for guidance and feedback on the way they choose to proceed Consequently, teachers do not control the whole learning procedure like a commander, but take many other roles like directors or advisors

According to Camilleri (1997), there are a number of characteristics that a teacher of autonomous learners need to develop:

- Being aware of his/her own personal influence on the learning process

- Understanding pedagogy

- Being skilled in management

- Creating a relaxed learning atmostphere

However, he emphasizes the role change of teacher from an imparter of information to a manager, a resource person and a counsellor

- The teacher as manager: The teacher is a manager of activities who can

be able to map out likely paths for students It has been recommened that the teacher negotiate with learners course content and methodology

- The teacher as a resource person: The teacher optimizes learning conditions by offering learners help in being aware of a wide range of alternative learning strategies and learning styles

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- The teacher as a counsellor: The teacher is able to accompany individual learning processes, respond to learning problems Gremmo and Riley (1995) believe that teachers can take the role of counselling by assisting learners to establish set of values, ideas and techniques or suggesting materials for students to self-study

1.2 Vocabulary learning

1.2.1 Definition

According to Hornby 1984 (cited in Mayuree 2007 ), vocabulary is viewed

as the total number of words which make up a language and a range of words known to or used by a person In his definition, there are two different ways of division These ways can be similarly looked at Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary Eighth Edition, vocabulary is 1) all the words that a person knows or uses 2) all the words in a particular language In general, vocabulary is defined as the knowledge of words and word meaning

As can be easily seen, “word” is commonly used to define vocabulary Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish these two terms Word is “an uninteruptible unit of structure consisting of one or more morphemes which are minimal meaningful units of languages” (Jackson & Amvela, 2007, p.59).Morever, word is viewed as “a unit formed of sounds and letters that have a meaning” (Sheeler & Markley, 2000) In contrast, vocabulary is a collection of words or a set of lexemes which includes single words, compound words and idioms Besides, vocabulary is

the study of the meanings of words and how words are used

1.2.2 Significance of vocabulary in language learning

Learning a language requires a lot of skills and knowledge, in which vocabulary knowledge plays a vital role It is evident that language learning does not mean vocabulary meaning only, but McCarthy (1990) believes that “no matter

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how well the student learns grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds of

second language are mastered, without words to express a wide range of meanings,

communication in a second language just cannot happen in any meaningful way.”

This view is shared by a number of scholars, for example, Nandy (1994) thinks that

the more words language learners can use, the more easily and confidently they can

express themselves It can be seen that vocabulary knowledge can help learners to

achieve both inside and outside their classroom As a result, vocabulary plays a

dominant role in learning a language

1.2.3 Vocabulary in relationship with four skills

Pkulski and Templeton (2004) produced a diagram of the relationship between vocabulary and four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing

(Adapted from Pkulski and Templeton, 2004)

Figure 1.1 Vocabulary and the four language skills

 Meaning/Oral vocabulary is words learners hear and words they speak

With vocabulary knowledge, students can catch what they are listening and their

speaking is understandable

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 Literate/Written vocabulary is words that learners read and write When students read, they need a number of vocabulary items to understand texts Similarly, when they write, they need vocabulary to express their ideas in their writing texts

 Receptive vocabulary refers words that help learners understand what they hear in speech and what they read The more words learners know, the better they understand conversations they are participating in and comprehending texts

 Productive vocabulary refers words that learners use to express their thoughts and ideas in both speaking and writing

1.2.4 Vocabulary learning goals

Possible objectives of vocabulary teaching and learning have been proposed

by different scholars According to Catalan (2003) cited in Mayruee, the vocabulary learning goals include 1) finding out the meaning of unknown words; 2) retaining them in long-term memory and 3) using them in oral or written mode Similarly, Intaraprasert (2004) agrees that learning vocabulary is to discover the meanings of new words and retain the knowledge of newly-learned words Furthermore, he emphasizes the importance of expanding the knowledge of English vocabulary

1.2.5 Vocabulary learning approaches

In general, learners learn vocabulary in two different ways: direct and indirect (Nation, 1990) Direct vocabulary learning means language learners learn vocabulary consciously or explicitly This method is highly recommended for important and frequently-used vocabulary According to Nation (1990), learning single words explicitly is appropriate for beginners of second language learning In contrast, indirect vocabulary learning is emphasised to language learners This method is concerned with the inconscious learning process when learners hear or see the words, for example by watching films, listening to music, reading stories or

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magazines extensively, without the aim of learning them Therefore, the richer the language learners are exposed to, the more words they could learn implicitly

1.2.6 Vocabulary learning strategies

Learning strategies are considered techniques employed by students in order

to accomplish a learning goal According to Oxford (1990), learning strategies are

“tools for active, self-directed involvement .appropriate language learning strategies result in improved proficiency and greater self-confidence” In short, language learning strategies are set of actions and tactics to facilitate their studying

It appears that researchers have made use of different systems to classify vocabulary learning strategies Some researchers may have their own classification based on other research works conducted by other researchers or

on their own research works; or even from their own experience as language teachers or language learners For example, Schmitt (1997) developed a taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies including strategies for the discovery of

a new word’s meaning and strategies for consolidating a word once it has been encountered He categorized these two big groups in five different strategies, namely determination strategies, social strategies, cognitive strategies, memory strategies and metacognitive strategies Meanwhile, Pemberton (2003) divide vocabulary learning strategies into two main categories: strategies for learning vocabulary (memorisation, using words and recycling words) and strategies for

reducing “forgetting problems”

This study will adopt Intaraprasert’s classification for its comprehensive coverage In details, Intaraprasert (2004, pp.55-56) classified vocabulary learning strategies into three main categories - Strategies to Discover the Meaning of New Vocabulary Items (DMV), Strategies to Retain the Knowledge of Newly-learned Vocabulary Items (RKV), Strategies to Expand the Knowledge of

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Vocabulary Items (EKV) His classification is different from Schmitt (1997) and

Pemberton (2003) due to the fact that strategies to expand the knowledge of

vocabulary items are included The researcher highly appreciates this way because

extending vocabulary knowledge is very important to language learners

Vocabulary Learning Strategy Classification by Intaraprasert (2004)

Category 1: Strategies to Discover the Meaning of New Vocabulary Items

(DMV)

- Use a bilingual dictionary

- Use a monolingual dictionary

- Guess the meaning from the context

- Ask one’s classmate or friend

- Ask one’s teacher

- Ask someone other than one’s teacher, classmate or friend

- Look at the word roots, prefixes or suffixes

Category 2: Strategies to Retain the Knowledge of Newly-learned Vocabulary

Items (RKV)

- Keep a vocabulary notebook

- Group words based on the synonymity or antonymity

- Associate new words with the already-learned ones

- Use new words in writing

- Use new words to converse with peers

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- Keep words as the computer background

- Keep word cards or word charts in one’s bedroom

- Keep words as rhymes or songs

- Use pictures

Category 3: Strategies to Expand the Knowledge of Vocabulary Items (EKV)

- Listen to a radio programme in English especially the one for language learning

- Watch a television programme in English especially the one for language learning

- Surf the Internet especially the websites for language learning

- Read different types of different English printed materials, e.g leaflets,

brochures, textbooks or newspapers

- Play games in English, e.g crossword, or hangman

- Practise translating from mother tongue into English and vice versa

- Watch an English-speaking film with mother tongue scripts

- Listen to English songs

- Do extra vocabulary exercises from different sources, e.g book, newspapers or the Internet

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1.3 Learner autonomy in vocabulary learning

Vocabulary learning is very important in learning languages However, not all vocabulary can be taught in class, which forces learners to spend time study vocabulary autonomously According to Tuan (2011), learner autonomy can be considered as a relief to students in vocabulary learning due to its advantages In fact, he believes that learner autonomy can bring out more effective vocabulary learning because learners can choose their most suitable strategies to follow Thornbury (2002) also claims that language learners have their own ways of learning vocabulary; consequently, vocabulary acquisition is much of an individual process

1.4 Review of related studies

Vocabulary and learner autonomy have been the subject of a large number of studies

In terms of the role of learner autonomy, Nation (1998) states that it is the learners who do the learning but not their teachers or coursebooks In his article, he suggested three elements to build autonomy, namely attitude, awareness and capicity Attitude means that learners themselves find it necessary to take control and responsibility for learning Whereas they are believed to have awareness if they are able to be conscious of what approaches to take and give reflection on their effects In order to become autonomous, learners are capable of possessing necessary skills and knowledge Little (1990) also emphasizes the vital charge of autonomy in language learning Different aspects of autonomous learners were comprehensively discussed by Dickinson (1993), Weden (1998) and Beatriz (2010) Scharle and Szabo (2000) also mention several factors of autonomous learners such

as aim setting, problem solving and self-evaluation Although learners are the ones who are responsible for their own learning, the role of teachers is not minor Camilleri (1997) reveals the change in role of the teacher from an imparter of

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information to a manager, a resource person and a counsellor Likewise, Nation (2001) suggests that teachers are to boost students’ awareness of learner autonomy and strengthen motivation to them

With regards to vocabulary learning, different aspects of vocabulary have been investigated by numerous researchers For instance, George (1999) looks at a variety of elements of knowing a word Besides, vocabulary learning strategies are

a welcome attention by scholars such as Schmitt (1997), Pemberton (2003) and Intaraprasert (2004)

In Vietnam, the traditional method of teaching and learning – centered method has been reformed towards learner-centered method At the university level, credit-based curriculum can be seen as a sign of increasing learner autonomy Concerning with students’ graduation paper at the researcher’s current university, there have been a large body of studies on vocabulary learning strategies and vocabulary teaching techiques For example, Ngo (2009) conducted a thesis of freshmen’s vocabulary level and vocabulary learning With the same population, Tran (2010) investigates into ways to develop students’ autonomy in vocabulary learning

teacher-Indubitably, those studies have been useful sources for the knowledge of the domain Nevertheless, the concept of learner autonomy seems need more investigating The notion is shown in several aspects such as “Developing autonomous habits with extensive listening” by Matthew (2004), “Developing Learner Autonomy in EFL Writing Classrooms via Peer Feedback” by Kulsirisawad (2012) Moreover, there is a limited number of studies on learner autonomy and vocabulary learning, especially for freshmen to whom the concept is considered unfamiliar

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All things considered, the researcher carried out this study in order to get an in-deep look into the current situation of freshmen’s learner autonomy in vocabulary learning It is hoped to be an useful source for educators and teachers to figure out ways to improve learners’ autonomy effectively

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

The second chapter has presented a brief overview of theories which serves

as a foundation for the whole paper In this chapter, the applied methodology in order to answer the two research questions will be specified together with the participants, the instruments, the data collection and analysis procedure

3.1 Selection of subjects

The researcher recruited first-year English Language Teaching (ELT) mainstream students at FELTE, ULIS, VNU to take part in the survey The faculty has 22 classes of 25 students on average, equivalent to 550 students in total, among which there are 8 ELT classes from E1 (fast-track class) to E8 (mainstream class) The number of participants is about 50 freshmen coming from two ELT classes This number occupies one fourth of the whole English language teachingfreshmen, which is large enough to correctly represent the population Furthermore, this is an internal study, so the proportion seems to be reasonable

Cluster sampling is chosen to be the sampling method in this study According to Henry (1990), cluster sampling is a sampling technique in which the population is divided into different subgroups called the clusters such that the members within each cluster are dissimilar in terms of their attributes, but different clusters are similar to each other This characteristic matches the situation of classes

at FELTE In fact, it was difficult to select a random sample of individuals due to the large number of students Therefore, the researchers selected the classes for teaching instead of randomly selecting individuals To decide which classes to participate in the study, the researchers write names of different classes on different pieces of paper and then pick two of seven pieces

3.2 Participants

Description of chosen classes (QH2012.F1.E3, QH2012.F1.E6)

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First year mainstream English teaching students’ current English proficiency

is assumed at Level A2 of Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) They have finished their first term in which their English proficiency were developed with two parallel courses: English for Social Purpose 1 and English for Academic Purpose 1 All students have learned to organize and take responsibility for their own progress through assignments and assessments in- and out-of-class

Table 3.1 Demographic background of participants

Demographic background Number of participants

(48)

Time of learning English (Years)

Table 3.2 Description of interviewees

Participant learning Time of

English

English latest scores

Social themes

Acedamic themes

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3.3 Data collection instruments

The researcher used questionnaires and interviews as data collection instruments due to their appropriateness to the study’s objectives

Oppenheim (1992) believes that questionnaires are rather convenient to use because they can be given to a large group at the same time Therefore, they also can help scholars save time of data collection Another positive point of questionnaires is cost-effective In short, researchers can use this instrument to save time and manage budget for their study

For this research, questionnaires were designed to collect data of learners’ perception of autonomous learning and their frequently used techniques to learn vocabulary autonomously In the survey, there are three main parts Part 1 is about participants’ information, part 2 is about their perception of autonomous learning, part 3 is about their learning vocabulary strategies They include both close-ended questions and open-ended questions Answers of open-ended questions help to explain clearly for ones of close-ended questions to facilitate the comprehension of the collected information and data analysis

Along with the survey questionnaire, interviews are exploited as another data collection instrument The interviews were conducted after the collection of questionnaire with the aim of getting further information directly from participants Moreover, the reliability of collected data has been scrutinized by making comparison between what participants have answered in questionnaires and how they answered face-to-face Besides, it is widely admitted that the interviews give chances for participants to speak out their own opinions about the matter which might be harder to express in questionnaires (Oppenheim, 1992)

Out of three types of interview, namely structured, semi-structured and unstructured, semi-structured interviews have been applied for this research thanks

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to their flexibility The interviews were conducted in Vietnamese so as to create a pleasant atmosphere forparticipants as well as to maximize the information gathered Each interview included three parts: part 1 was to get personal information of interviewees; part 2 was to gather their perception of autonomy in learning vocabulary and its importance Lastly, the final part was about their learning strategies, their assessment on the effectiveness as well as their difficulty and solutions during their autonomous learning process

3.4 Procedures of data collection

Step 1: Preparing for questionnaire administration

Before launching the final draft of the survey questionnaires, the monitors of four chosen groups were contacted to ask for co-operation in advance and informed about the purpose of the study and the specific time of delivering the survey

Step 2: Administering the questionnaire

The researcher will carry out the survey in break times Before asking the students to do the survey questionnaire, the purposes of the study was briefly explained so that participants can provide precisely informative responses The research ethics is assured as confidentiality is highly guaranteed during the procedure Vietnamese instructions and explanations are also presented to eliminate ambiguity and help respondents avoid any misunderstandings

Step 3: Interviewing

After collecting questionnaire papers, the researcher conducted the interviews The researcher asked for participants’ permission of recording the interviewing The research also took notes during the talk

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3.5 Procedures of data analysis

Data from survey questionnaires

First, the researcher examined and classified the collected questionnaire papers to find out the appropriate answers 52 questionnaires had been distributed and 48 questionnaires were returned Out of these papers, there are 45 appropriate answers The data collected from the questionnaires was quantitative data, so the descriptive statistics method was the most suitable for the researcher to provide recapitulation on the issue To analyze the questionnaires, the descriptive statistics method of mean and standard deviation were used Thereafter, the data were demonstrated in bar charts and pie charts for better illustration of the differences (if any) among variables in the same category Comments on the data were made basing on the knowledge of Literature review Qualitative data – students’ anwers

to open-ended questions were summarized and quoted when necessary for illustration

Data from interviews

The data collected from the interviews were analysed according to the method of content analysis based on notes and audio recording transcripts Data sharing similar ideas were grouped in categories corresponding with each research question According to Steve (2001), content analysis is a systematic technique to compress many words of text into fewer content categories based on explicit rules

of coding It is often used to analyzed essays, answers to interview questions and verbal printed media

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CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS & DISCUSSIONS

With the aim of answering two research questions, this chapter both presents the outcome from the questionnaire and the interview and generates some discussion The collected data from the questionnaire is illustrated with pie charts, bar charts and tables Discussion is based on the result from both of two research data collection instruments

4.1 Freshmen’s perceptions of autonomy in vocabulary learning

4.1.1 The importance of learning English vocabulary

Students’ judgement of the importance of vocabulary learning is one of the reseacher’s primary concerns The result collected from the questionnaire is presented in figure 1 and the reason for their assessment was explained by interviewees

As can be seen in the pie chart, none of the students viewed vocabulary learning as unimportant In contrast, 83,3 % (40 out of 48 students) believed that it

is important to learn vocabulary Basing on the statistics, it can be said that the role

of vocabulary learning is highly valued by freshmen

83%

NeutralNot important

Chart 4.1 Freshmen's judgement of the importance of vocabulary learning

All of the interview respondents agreed that it was vital to learn vocabulary due to its benefits in language learning In fact, they believed that their study at

as “a golden key” to express her ideas clearly and effortlessly to be understood Furthermore, with a large knowledge of vocabulary, right choices of words in different contexts can be made, which helps to avoid ambiguity or misunderstanding

Generally speaking, freshmen’s positive attitude to the role of vocabulary learning can be viewed as a convincing evidence for the fundamental change of focus from grammar as traditional approach Moreover, it is considered a powerful motivation for students to pay serious attention to vocabulary learning

4.1.2 The level of interest in learning English vocabulary

67%

33%

0%

ImportantNeutralNot important

Chart 4.2 Freshmen's interest in vocabulary learning